Paradise

Paradise

Paradise

The Garden of Eden is a long sought after treasure, countless people have dedicated their lives to find this earthly incarnate of paradise. Throughout the history of theology, man’s existence and origins have been linked exclusively to the Garden of Eden. However, much of this belief lends itself to the borrowing of the ancient Mesopotamian religions11. Consequently, Paradise has been strongly linked to the concept of Eden. Throughout scriptural text, The Garden of Eden and Paradise are used synonymously.

“After Time had come into being and the holy seasons for growth and rest were finally known, holy Dilmun, the land of the living, the garden of the great gods and earthly paradise, located eastward in Eden, was the place where Ninhursag, the exalted lady, could be found”12 .

The Garden of Eden within in the ancient Mesopotamian mythology is called the garden of the Gods. In the quotation above, it is seen how it is used to illustrate an earthly home for the Sumerian Deities, and this is perhaps the first use of the word ‘Eden’. Consequently, the Mesopotamians saw the gardens as a holy place of significant theological importance. It was their belief that man originated; also from these gardens where he once lived among his creators in harmony13. Thus, these stories bore fruit to man’s thereafter fascination with the garden. Later this belief was passed over into Judaism, Christianity and the Islamic religions which begun to expand the description of the Garden of Eden. Within the Abrahamic religions, it can be observed how man has definitively coupled the ideology of the garden with paradisiacal nature.

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it”. Genesis: 2: 15

11 (Buck, Paradise and Paradigm 1999) (Kvanvig 2011) 12 (Lyons 2018) 13 Sitchin, Zecharia. Genesis Revisited: Is Modern Science Catching Up with Ancient Knowledge?. Simon and Schuster, 2002.

Though this chapter, a wise advice is observed, that is, to work and keep the garden. The verse can be further scrutinised, to hypothesize that this could easily be some form of primordial instruction that would assure our survival.

Theologians believe that it was because of this mythological relationship between God and the garden that resulted in the Garden of Eden, often being just called paradise. The Greeks borrowed the Persian word, paradeisos, for an enclosure, a garden, an orchard, and for paradise and later the Garden of Eden14. The English word, paradise is believed to derive from this Persian word, which literally translates to walled park15. For this reason, we can see the strong correlation and salience placed on the garden as a paradisiacal entity. Resultantly, scholarly writings have continually tried to decode the concept of the garden in Mesopotamian cultures. Mesopotamia is the birthing place of civilisation and so it would seem logical as to why that the romanticizing of the garden started here and was carried over into Middle Ages and then to modern days.

“And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure” Genesis: 2:8

Subsequently, by the 17th century, the belief in the existence of the Garden of Eden had begun to decline, and it was replaced by man’s nostalgia for a mythological paradise16. Paintings of this era showed Eden as a paradise of lush plants, animals, streams and of course, man.

14 (Dalley 1993) 15 Dalley, Stephanie. “Ancient Mesopotamian gardens and the identification of the hanging gardens of Babylon resolved.” Garden History (1993): 1-13. 16 (Delumeau 2000)

analysis of edenic PaintinGs

Edenic imagery can be a truly stimulating to view, and by default lends itself to any infallibility credited to it. It portrays an individualistic interpretation of paradise based on the subjectivity of the artist, time and region; justly, this same infallibility lends itself to reflexivity17. The paradigm of paradise is deeply associated with semiology, and so it makes it all the more interesting to decipher the allegories of Edenic Imagery.

As seen in the early paintings of paradise, Eden is an evergreen oasis of lush plants and fauna. Within paradise, man cannot age, and there was no evil, at least not until Eve’s transgression18. The imagery of Eden has also shown the simplicity of paradise; it is not gold incrusted, nor does it have intricate ornamentations, however its paradisiacal value lies within its immateriality. The paradise as depicted by Edenic imagery is a simple referral of the intrinsic beauty and detail naturally existing within the world. Edenic imagery creates and interesting dialogue between the world of man and metaphoric paradise. Throughout most images of Eden, we constantly see water illustrated throughout and sometimes bearing as much significance to the image as the flora itself. This is as a result of, a great portion of fauna also existing within the water, as well as its vital relationship with the existence of life.

According to the Old Testament, man, after consuming the apple, located at the centre of the garden, became aware of his nakedness, and thus, banished into the world of the mortals, where he would now age and have to toil for his food and survival. These stories provide an allegory for the transition of man from his unaware state and place among nature19, into civilisation and knowledge. This represents the theological transition of man from the wild into prehistoric civilisation. Since then, man has sought to recreate paradise in his new world, the garden.

“Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.” Genesis 3:23

17 Buck, Paradise and Paradigm, 1999 18 Gen. 3:6 King James Bible 19 Gen. 3:23 King James Version

Robert Scott Duncanson ,The Garden of Eden, Oil On Canvas

Izaak van Oosten, The Garden of Eden Jan Brueghel the Younger, Creation of Adam

Jan Brueghel, the elder The Garden of Eden with the fall of man Bassano Jacopo, The Garden of Eden

Thomas Cole“The Garden of Eden”details Amon Carter Museum 1828

In this painting from Cole, the Garden of Eden is pictured as an idyllic open space full of colours and vegetation. The lighting of a sunset creates a romantic and warm glow on the scene and colours of the water reflects a soft orange tint - not blue as typically seen in representation of water in art. The Garden of Eden is here represented as a forest, full of trees, plants and flowers, as to create a sense of peace and harmony of man with nature. Two human figures, Adam and Eve, are in the background of the scene and they appear only a little larger than blades of grass. The focus of the painter is on the river, where the attention to colours and details are at their finest. This painting, unlike most, does not put extreme focus on the humans, but instead on the garden; thus illustrating a scene where Adam and Eve are as much a part of the garden as the trees and water. Around the water he concentrates all the visual elements that communicate the vitality and prosperity of the Garden of Eden. The precious stones gleam to show the wealth of Eden. The Garden of Eden is represented as a space full of life, where Mother Nature grows undisturbed and uncontrolled. This piece communicates vividly the homogeneity and prosperity of Paradise and the symbiosis with Adam and Eve.

11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.

13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush.20

20 (Gen. 2:11-13 Revised Standard Version)

Jan Breughel & Peter Paul Rubens: The Garden of Eden (1615); Mauritshuis, Den Haag

Breughel and Rubens artist illustrates a strong religious narrative of paradise, with the theological and biblical elements well exposed in the painting. Here, we see in contrast the representation of water as a blue hue, as opposed to the orange we saw in the work by Thomas Cole. The light is soft, and we can clearly see the human body juxtaposed against the dark hue of the trees. This composition of Eden appears far more anthropocentric, and the humans themselves are set right below a massive canopy. Successively, we can see the clusters of trees stretching the entire length of Eden. However, in this painting the focus is on the two human figures in the foreground, and nature is part of the background and becomes the scenography of the represented composition. Overall the light spread through the painting as to give a sense of joy and happiness, typical of paradisiacal views. The water, a strong iconic element in the creationist description of paradise, is here not of primary importance, instead the focus is Adam and Eve in the act of eating the apple. The refinement and accuracy with which the artist rendered flowers and plants shows the interest on communicating the beauty and perfection of the Garden of Eden.

Thomas Cole, Expulsion from the Garden of Eden 1828

This piece is a continuation of his previous painting “The Garden of Eden”. In this painting the similar type of stylistic emphasis is placed on the landscape. Here he shows a stark juxtaposition of Paradise and the world of man. On the right, we see lush various types of trees, well-lit and the ubiquitous involvement of water, unlike his other, which focused on the image, this composition focuses on the narrative. Interestingly, at first glance it is not so clear exactly where Adam and Eve are in the composition. However, based on the use of light our eyes are pulled towards them at the mouth of the portal separating paradise and the world of man. Contrasted by the lush of tropical vegetation on the right, the left is desolate and dystopian. Towards the bottom left we see a predator which represents the harshness and unpredictability our world. Looking at the bottom right, it appears to be the same river from his previous painting. Water is used here also as the element thrusting Adam and Eve out of the Garden. This symbolically represents the power of water and its duality as both life giver, and a force of destruction.

water and eden

As seen in a majority of Edenic imagery and text, water is a crucial aspect of Paradise, not only as a means of giving life to the garden, but also as a holy symbol and point of respite21. In Thomas Cole’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden, he replaces the cherubim22 which drove Adam and Eve out of Paradise, with a gushing tsunami. In all other depictions of this act, it is a Cherubim who removes Adam and Eve from the garden; this therefore exemplifies water as a divine element capable of acting as a symbol of a higher power. According to both biblical and Mesopotamian theology, the Lord called for the water to rise and nourish the land, and consequently life was given to Eden. This text further denotes water’s purpose to the Eden model. Lastly, the placement of the four rivers in the bible helps create a datum point for the garden and is one of the very few geographic descriptions that are given in Genesis23 .

“Enki (a Mesopotamian god) then summoned Utu.Together they brought a mist from the depths of the earth and watered the face of the ground. Then Enki created rivers of fertile sweet waters, and he also devised basins and cisterns to store the waters.”24

(Translation of Sumerian Text)

“but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.”

Genesis:2:6

21 (Creagan, Water as blessing: recovering the symbolism of the Garden of Eden through Ezekielfor Christian theology – a theological investigation ,2012) 22(Gen. 3:24 Revised Standard Version) 23(Gen. 2:1-24 Revised Standard Version) 24 (Hagin n.d.)